Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier is a prominent voice for space exploration, having participated in four space shuttle flights and the servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope. He is also deeply involved in the Starmus Festival. Hear his thoughts about the past and future of space, and about the unique appeal of Starmus, in this interview with Astronomy Magazine’s Editor Dave Eicher.

Since the very first Homo Sapiens looked up at a star-filled sky we have been awestruck by the vastness of the cosmos. Even today we remain humbled by the sheer immensity of space, especially as through our progress in physics and astronomy, we are now aware of the tremendous distances involved – even to our closest neighbouring stars. Created by Garik Israelian, researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), the Starmus Festival is a combination of science, art and music that has featured presentations from Astronauts, Cosmonauts, Nobel Prize Winners and prominent figures from science, culture, the arts and music. The Starmus conferences join Nobel laureates, eminent researchers, thinkers, men and women of science, culture, arts and music to share their knowledge and experiences in the common search for answers to the great questions of today. For more information on Starmus V, please visit https://www.starmus.com/

Scientists Alan Stern and David Grinspoon have just written the definitive book on the New Horizons Pluto mission, Chasing New Horizons. Hear an exclusive, in-depth podcast about the mission, the writing of the book, and the future of exploring the outer solar system.

Do you like talking galaxies? Michael West, Deputy Director for Science at Lowell Observatory, is an expert on galaxies. Hear his thoughts about the current state of knowledge on the biggest creatures of the cosmos!

David Helfand is an iconoclast. Longtime member and chair of the Astronomy Department at Columbia University, he is a skeptic, author, and innovator in teaching in new and creative ways. Hear about his amazing career in this “5 Questions” Podcast.